The Vigil
by Beautiful Depravity
Summary: Loki and Thor celebrate their mother's death in a way none of the Avengers could have predicted.
1. Chapter 1

***I'm using the theory that Loki was under Thanos' control as the background for this story. Loki did fake his death, but eventually turned up at the Avengers tower. Loki is now an unofficial avenger, and it is two years after the events of the Dark World.**

 **Tony POV**

He really had no clue how he had missed the early warning signs. His only real excuse was that Thor had disappeared for an impromptu trip back to Asgard last year, so Tony hadn't realized there was anything important about those two weeks. And besides, he had been completely distracted when Loki came strolling into the tower right beside a beaming Thor. So really, Tony could at least pretend he had an excuse.

He had first gotten a bad feeling when Thor had started acting sulky. You could never really tell with Loki, as he was just barely starting to warm towards midgard's mightiest heros. But the normally endlessly exuberant Thor? You would have had to be blind, deaf, and an idiot to miss a giant sulking Thor. But both the aliens had been each hiding out on their private floors of the tower, and only ever emerged to fight of the baddies and eat. Which Loki apparently didn't do much of anyway.

Clint, much to Tony's delight, had been unable to spot the difference even with his supposedly perfect observation skills. But he noticed on many occasions Steve or Bruce would attempt to approach Thor about it, only to be left standing alone as he retreated back to his room. Even Natasha had eventually switched from vaguely curious to worried looks.

On the rare occasion Loki emerged from his lair though, which was only ever to defend the good citizens of America (or Britain, he had taken a special liking to it for some reason), Loki tore through the enemies with an unnatural amount of hate even for him, demolishing any foe within minutes. The Avengers had actually just sat in their jet the last couple of missions, just doing the occasional crowd control as the Asgardians worked of their inexplicable hatred towards the world.

But the most annoying thing was that as Tony watched Thor's bright clothes and Loki's darker ones change to simple, drab garments and their normally cheerful or at least tolerable personalities plumet, Tony was growing ever more impatient. The curious scientist in him desperately wanted to know what was up with the gods, and as it didn't seem like they would be telling, he just had to hope that whatever it was would come to light soon. What he didn't realize was what he was really asking for was crazier than he could have ever dreamed of, and that it would begin in three minutes when the clock struck midnight.


	2. Chapter 2

***Sorry for the lack of dialogue. People will actually talk to each other in this chapter, I promise. And by the way, meanie beanie sounds like a candy I would soooooo eat.**

 **Loki POV**

Loki had been waiting anxiously for this moment for weeks. He and Thor had reached some sort of mostly silent agreement, deciding they would remain to mourn on Midgard this year. Asgard had officially pardoned him, but a pardon was far from forgiveness, especially as he had never been the favored prince anyway. So he and Thor would do their best to mourn properly from Midgard, a feat which would never have been possible without Loki's magic. The custom they practiced on Asgard was that they would mourn in sadness for a week, release the lights on the night of the deceased's death, and then drink themselves into oblivion during the week after to celebrate the long life and accomplishments of the person. He and Thor planned to follow this as best they could, though knowing Thor, Stark would have to replenish his massive amounts of alcohol afterwards. He would have no issue conjuring Asgardian alcohol, but if he kept up with Thor he would be completely drunk by halfway through the first night, and he had had bad experiences trying to do magic while drunk.

So he and Thor now sat on Stark's ridiculously expensive leather sofas, barely listening to the Avenger's conversation as they watched the clock slowly tick closer to midnight. It was now three minutes to twelve, and as he waited for the time to pass, Loki went over the correct incantation in his head, repeating it ceaselessly so that when the time came he would be able to recite it confidently. He noticed Thor tossing Mjolnir nervously between his hands, his gaze unfocused as he stared out the window. He then looked back at the clock, noting the display read 11:59. He froze in place not able to tear his gaze away as the seconds fell away. And slowly, the display changed, and he and Thor both simultaneously shot out of their seats as if they had been electrocuted. The conversation ended abruptly, and Stark stared up at them with an offended expression.

"Hey! That's really rude y'know. I was in the middle of a great story!" he complained.

Thor's normally booming voice was subdued as he spoke. "My apologies. My brother and I must take our leave. We shall return tomorrow morning."

Thor then nodded to Loki, who merely hummed in response as he brushed past him and went out onto the balcony. Thor joined him a moment later, and with a flash they teleported to the roof.

 **Tony POV**

As reindeer games and hammer time poofed, he was left sitting around the coffee table feeling more curious than before. He absolutely had to know what was going on, and there was only one way he could do it.

"Jarvis, do a scan of the tower and see if those two weirdos just zapped themselves back to their rooms for another sulk-fest. Run a scan of all Earth's cameras too, and see if they've popped up somewhere else."

"No need, sir. Mr. Odinson is on the roof, as well as his brother."

Tony still found it ridiculous that Jarvis now refused to say his name. When he had arrived, Lokes had ordered Jarv to never call him Odinson, and had refused to offer an alternative. As Jarvis now seemed to be permanently offended, he attempted to call Loki by his name as little as possible.

"Oh. Thanks Jarv." He then turned to his teammates.

"So. Who's up for a little snooping?"


	3. Chapter 3

***Sorry for not posting. I have excuses, but I won't bother. If you like any characters in MCU you would like me to add (Bucky, Rhody, Darcy, Jane, etc.) I will as soon as an opportunity presents itself. For references on what the lights looked like, here are the image URLs:**

 **/data_**

 **Tony POV**

He was extremely surprised when Natasha decided to lead the way, trying to keep the less graceful Tony and Bruce in the back of the group in hopes that wouldn't give the group away immediately. As they were trying to go incognito and were only a few floors below the roof, they opted for taking the stairs rather than the elevator. And so the five of them crept up the few flights of stairs, stopping just a few steps below the landing that led out onto the roof. Natasha turned to them and did some odd hand signal that he completely ignored, and as she leaned softly against the door and began to ease it open, he rushed past the rest of the group and burst through the door, exploding out of the stairwell and into the most enchanting event to ever occur on his roof.

A massive circle shone out of his pavement, light bursting from an unknown source and casting an eerie light over the scene. The light looked like an odd form of the Aurora Borealis, the circle of ethereal light contrasting sharply with the deep shadows that lurked at the corners of the roof. It shone directly upwards, translucent pillars surrounding the silhouettes of the two Asgardians. They stood in the center of the space, Thor's head bowed as he kneeled beside Loki, who had his arms cast towards the sky, the blue and green light emanating from his fingertips. Even he could feel the power that thrummed through the air around Loki, and he began to wonder how they had ever been able to defeat the sorcerer as the light funneled in the air above them, the figure contorting and shifting as it eventually burst outwards. He noticed a few others shielding their eyes as the magic surged, both shielding their eyes and desperately trying to capture every moment of the astonishing display. As the light began to dim, he noticed the light had contracted into two luminous orbs. Loki let his hands drift downwards, both light dropping to float in front of one of them. He suddenly flung his right hand up again, his index and middle fingers held aloft as he made an odd motion, casting his hand across his chest to stab towards the left before he swung it back to the right and let out another burst of power, shimmering runes materializing in the air as he muttered feverishly. Loki then stood, quickly crossing the circle to the opposite side and kneeling once more as he faced Thor. He conjured a knife with a flick of his wrist as he lifted his left arm, bringing the knife to slide across his forearm and passing it to Thor for him to do the same. The crimson drops pooled over pale skin, no indicator of pain evident on his face as he waited for Thor to release the knife, allowing it to vanish into thin air. They both then held their arms out, their slit skin weeping bloody tears onto the still pale blue orbs. He heard a sharp intake of breath as the orbs slowly faded to a rich and ethereal gold, seeming to signal some form of a chant from the two gods.

 _Várr móðir, grimmr drengr eða hægr dróttning_

 _Vér munu gráta yðarr andlát ey meirr_

 _Vér vegr ek með inn ljós_

 _Eða vætta yðarr ǫnd stjórna Valhalla_

As the two gods finished their chant, the lights all vanished simultaneously, plunging the rooftop into darkness. They could just barely make out Loki and Thor's figures now, and we shocked beyond believed as they rose and embraced each other, seemingly saddened by whatever had transpired. They parted soon though, and as they began to walk over to join the mortals, he realized the two gods had been well aware of their presence the entire time.

As they approached, Thor gave a quick explanation of what had transpired before anyone even had the chance to ask, shocking everyone.

"My apologies, friends" Thor said in his overly subdued voice, "but it was the anniversary of our mother's death today, and we had to mourn appropriately. Now we must depart to celebrate the great life she lived, and as friends, all are welcome to join."

Steve, ever the pacifist, instantly agreed. "Of course Thor. We will all help you through the painful day."

"Then now we shall depart this roof at once, and drink our sorrows away at friend Stark's bar. We shall provide liquor fit for gods!" he said gleefully, some of his usual volume creeping into his voice.

And with that Thor charged through the door to the stairwell, an uneasy Loki glancing back at the dumbstruck group left behind as he followed after Thor.

They stood around staring at each other like idiots for a minute, frozen in place as their minds attempted to comprehend the current events. He felt like he spoke for all of them when he stiffly voiced his opinion.

"What... The... Fuck."

"Language."

Well, maybe not Steve.

 _ **(Our mother, great warrior and gentle queen**_

 _ **We will mourn your death forever more**_

 _ **We honor you with the lights**_

 _ **And hope your soul rules over Valhalla)**_


End file.
